Ice, Ice Baby

We've been really open to letting Grace try different activities to see where her interests and strengths lie. She's taken swimming, dance, gymnastics, and soccer. For this upcoming semester, I gave her some suggestions: t-ball, karate, gymnastics, ice skating (I figured it was worth a shot!)... She actually chose ice skating! That was before Christmas. Since then, she has changed her mind and asked to do gymnastics. She said it looked too hard and she was scared of getting hurt. So, I called "Break the Barriers" and was put on a waiting list. With no idea how long it'd be before she'd be able to join a class, I suggested she try ice skating anyway. I shared about how I grew up knowing how to skate, and I showed her videos on YouTube of beginner figure skaters. The U.S. Figure Skating Championships were on t.v. last week, and she watched with a lot of enthusiasm. Well, tonight was Grace's first skating lesson. Jason and I were amazed- she did wonderfully! She fell a lot, but got right back up and kept trying. It was nice that Grace had a personal helper. I really thought she was going to start crying out of frustration, but she was completely determined to keep up with the rest of the class. As we left, I asked, "Did you have fun? Was it hard?" "Yes, it was hard but I had a lot of fun." "Would you want to come back next week?" She responded with, "Yes, since there's no room for me at gymnastics." Hmmm... she obviously still has gymnastics on her mind...

Well, we found out earlier today that there is in fact an opening at Break the Barriers. Maybe I should've just let Grace keep believing that there's no room at gymnastics, and let her continue discovering skating. I don't know if I could feel ok with that. So, as I was tucking her into bed, I asked her again which she'd prefer because there was an opening at gymnastics. She sighed, thought a moment, and said, "Maybe I'll do gymnastics." Can I confess that I'm slightly disappointed!?!!

Ok... so she won't be the next Michelle Kwan... Maybe she'll be the next Mary Lou Retton?!